Kea Costly talks future for Circle of Care

WEST POINT — Kea Costley, the new executive director of the Chambers County Circle of Care Center for Families, was the guest speaker at Thursday’s noon-hour meeting of the West Point Rotary Club. She recently succeeded Jonathan Herston in her new position. Herston left the Circle to be a full-time instructor at Southern Union State Community College. He had directed the organization for approximately eight years.

The Circle of Care is a family resource center that primarily serves Chambers County, though some of its services do extend in nearby areas outside the county.

“We experienced exponential growth in the time Jonathan was here,” Costley said. “We are now recognizing and trying to figure out how to be better scaled to offer the best service we can.”

For a number of years, the Circle was located in the former Shawmut Cafeteria building but eventually outgrew it. “We had people without offices and needed more space for storage,” Costley said. “We now have a staff of 23 full-time people. We work with individuals and families to help strengthen the family unit.”

The Circle is now located in the former Family Physicians building in Medical Park, Valley, and is in the process of expanding from there. An Innovation Center that began at the Circle is now in the former office of Dr. Joseph Downs. It’s already having success in helping local people with start-up businesses. A new business known as Searchlight Counseling is in the building, working with local people in this.

Another expansion is being looked at into an office space formerly occupied by Dr. Kamath.

Costley has been in social work for 22 years and loves it. “At the Circle of Care, we are there to offer resources, support, training and education to people in crisis situations,” she said.

The Circle does what it can for homeless people. “We do have homeless people here in our community,” she said. “It’s not like it is in the larger cities, but homelessness does exist here.”

The Circle of Care began this when the new building opened in late 2019. The country was on the cusp of Covid at the time, and homelessness would balloon into a much bigger problem than it had been.

One survey found there were an estimated 200 homeless people in the Valley area. Some of them were living in a tent city near River View and others were living under a bridge on I-85 near the Alabama Welcome Center. Homelessness isn’t limited to those who are living on the street. It also applies to those who don’t have their own place and are sleeping on a couch due to someone’s generosity.

Costley said the Circle received a grant this year from Navigate Housing, Birmingham, an organization that works to ensure access to housing, revitalize communities and improve the affordable housing industry.

The Circle’s long-range goal is to start a transitional housing program in Valley’s Rehobeth Heights neighborhood. It would provide a place for single mothers with young children could stay until they could transition to better living. “It’s in the planning stage right now,” Costley said. “We want to call it Hope Village.”

The Circle is not only dedicated to providing short-term housing solutions in crisis situations but is also engaged in seeking and implementing long-term strategies. This is rooted in the belief that having a stable and secure housing environment is fundamental for individual well-being and collective prosperity.

The Circle of Care has helped elderly or disabled people with their power bills during periods when they are abnormally high.

There’s also a Bread Basket program that extends a helping hand to the elderly in the Lanett/Valley area to offer food assistance. The purpose is to provide essential food assistance to the elderly, offering not only nourishment but also the possibility for them to redirect their limited financial resources toward other more pressing needs.

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